Without a Trace s06e16 Episode Script

Previously on Without a Trace Viv, I'm sorry.
I told the detective that all the decisions were mine.
You know, now is not the time.
I don't want the baby to get attached to you.
You know, he gets attached to you and and then you wake up one day and decide that it's all too much and disappear, so I guess the question is can you be here for him? Hey, you're home.
Yeah you're still here.
- Yeah.
- What happened? I got into it with my Phillips head, but I'm fine.
I'll be done in a few.
You know what, you've done most of the heavy lifting.
Let me let me take it from here.
You sure? Yeah, yeah, I'm an FBI agent.
I think I can handle a screwdriver without hurting anybody.
Right.
You know, I meant to ask you: how much longer are you planning on working? I beg your pardon? Well, my mom worked till they wheeled her into the ER.
She went back as soon as I was on the bottle.
I you know what, I hadn't really even thought about it.
Well, whatever you decide, if you need anything, just say the word.
Thank you.
Yeah, I will.
Here.
Watch out.
Right.
Do you mind? No no, no Go go, go ahead.
See you later, little guy.
Thanks.
Sure.
Bye.
Bye.
We were going camping for the weekend, and it was my turn to bring the food, right? This story again? Elliot has not heard this.
Okay.
So I go to this dive bar, and there's this all-you-can-eat happy hour, and when the barkeep isn't looking, I fill three of these one-gallon baggies with wings, potato skins, everything.
Yeah, he's not mentioning the fact that we were leaving the next morning, and he didn't have a refrigerator in his apartment.
You know, I was in the bushes hurling for two days.
Oh, it wasn't so bad.
I dropped down to like a size 3.
Yeah, you never thanked me.
Well, that was then, and this is now, right? Time to break it out? Break out what? We packed a surprise.
Just a little something special.
Champagne? Well, I can only have a sip because of the baby, but I thought we should celebrate.
And I got Beluga caviar.
The stuff's like $295 a pop.
For fish eggs you're kidding.
Hey, you brought something to put it on, right? Like what? I don't know.
It's supposed to go on crackers.
I'm gonna go to bed.
You're not gonna have some champagne? No, you know what, I'm really tired, and I'm leaving early in the morning, so you guys have fun.
Oh, God.
Oh, man, she's not missing out.
This stuff tastes like ass.
Hi.
Is there anything I can do before I take off? - No, we're good.
Right.
- Okay.
- You sure you want to leave? - Trying to get the co-op board to approve my bathroom plans all week, and today's only day he's free, so I'm gonna stay and help with the rest of this.
I'll catch a ride.
Hey.
About last night, sorry if we went overboard.
Jeff warned me you wouldn't like it.
It's okay.
- You sure? - Yeah, I'm fine.
I just I really have to go.
Nice place.
Our missing person bought it a couple weeks ago.
Her name's Lacey Moran, - 24? - 24.
She won the lotto last month.
Before, she was working as a waitress at a place called Saul's on Houston.
- When was she last seen? - Yesterday, at 8:00 A.
M.
, she was seen leaving Harriman State Park.
She came back early because she had a meeting on the co-op board; only I called the co-op board, and nobody knew anything about this.
- Do we know if she even made it home? - Yeah.
Her car's in her space, and we have this.
This is from the parking garage.
Take a look at the time stamp.
Yesterday, 9:30 A.
M.
- So who called it in? - The cleaning lady.
Came in at 7:00 A.
M.
this morning.
The door was wide open.
She found Lacey's purse and her wallet, so she got worried; she called her cell phone; she didn't answer; she got really worried, and that's when she called 911.
Well, if she wasn't missing, I'd say she's the luckiest girl in New York.
- Welcome back, sir.
- Thanks.
Malone.
Hey, Alex.
Yeah, I'm fine.
You I told you, I take full responsibility.
Okay, you just tell me where and when, and I'll be there.
Okay.
Thanks.
- Check the icebox.
- Viv.
Hey.
Hold on a second.
Hi.
Hey, I just got back.
Sam will get you up to speed on the case, okay? Yes.
Sure.
Mr.
Turner, I'm Special Agent Johnson.
Please, have a seat.
Now Can you account for your whereabouts after you left the campsite? My sister dropped me at home because they're in Tillworth this morning.
All right, well, I'd like for you to write down the names and numbers of anyone who can confirm that.
You think I did something to her? I love Lacey.
I would never hurt her.
So, Paula Reiser's your sister? Yeah, we knew Lacey in Philadelphia.
What made you all move out to New York? Paula wanted to get into fashion design.
Lacey just came because they're best friends.
I visited one summer, and Lacey and I hit it off, and I came, too.
Well, it looks like Lacey lied about why she came back to the city early.
Why would that be? I don't know.
But something was going on with her.
After we set up camp on Saturday, I went out to gather firewood while Paula and Elliot were at the store.
Is that a joke? Because if you try to blow me off, you can find a better excuse.
- I said I was sorry.
- I want a real explanation.
- Hey! - You need to get out of here.
- What was that? You okay? - I don't know.
Yeah, this this man just came out of nowhere and started screaming.
What did he want? I guess someone stole his wallet from his tent.
I told him I didn't know anything.
Thank God you were here.
We should go tell the ranger.
The ranger said he saw the guy, but he didn't report any robbery.
Think she was lying? She stuck to her story.
Could it have been an ex-boyfriend or relative, someone trying to get a piece of her now that she's won all that money? Me, Paula, and Elliot are all she's got.
And how did she handle having all that money? We all grew up with nothing.
Having money around just takes some getting used to.
Thanks? I got it in a fruit basket, although I I don't know how a banana says, "Sorry you got shot.
" Maybe booze would've been better.
So how we doing on Stacey Morton? You mean Lacey Moran? Right.
Right, okay.
Well the boyfriend seems to alibi out, and I'm combing through Lacey's financials right now.
Is that one bill? Yeah.
Since she got her lump sum payout, Jack, she's been averaging It's a good thing she's taking care money.
Not to mention that she's been loaning thousands and thousands dollars to friends.
It looks like she's been paying for everything with credit cards and checks.
Do you have any idea why she would need $3,000 in cash? That's Wednesday.
Not yet, but I'm looking into it.
Well, let me know when you find out.
He doesn't look familiar to me, no.
Ms.
Reiser? I'm sorry.
I can't even believe we're doing this.
I know.
It's hard.
Well, take a good look, please.
Maybe he's somebody that she worked with? No.
Well, Lacey wrote you guys a check for $10,000 last week.
Can you tell us what that was for? Our baby.
Paula's only three months along, but Lacey wanted to put away money for a college fund so our kid could be the first of us to go.
You may not know what this was for, but last Wednesday, she withdrew $3,000 cash.
- Do you have any idea why? - You said "Wednesday"? I know I saw her that day.
It's not our old, stained beauty with the springs popping out, Lace, - but I'd lounge her any day.
- Yeah, it's nice.
What's in the boxes? The lamps we picked out finally came.
Aren't you going to open them? I guess.
Yeah.
Hey, I didn't push those on you, did I? You said you like them.
I did.
No, I do.
I do.
I met this guy on the street today.
He was collecting donations for kids with cleft lips in South America.
Did you give him money? Yeah.
You can't help out everyone with a sob story, Lacey.
- Half of them aren't even true.
- No, this was real.
You should've seen the pictures of these kids, Paula.
They can't afford a $250 surgery to get their faces fixed, and I'm buying $2,000 lamps.
It doesn't make you a bad person.
I mean, think about all the good you've already done with the baby.
Me and Elliot could never afford college.
I know.
It's It's just the way I got the money.
I guess I feel is responsibility.
Like I need to do something important with it that that helps people.
You need a break.
You've been going nonstop since you won.
You know, go somewhere nice.
Then when you get back, you can start a foundation: The Lacey Fund.
That way, you can control who the money goes to.
I like that idea.
To be honest, I'd rather go camping.
Would you and Elliot be up for that? Like old times? Definitely.
Even before Lacey had the money, she was generous.
Did Lacey tell you anything else about the money she mentioned or the charity? No.
But I know she went down to The Village that morning.
Do you think this guy did something to her? Certainly going to try and find out.
Okay.
Thank you.
Bye.
Well, we can add "pizza for dinner" to the timeline.
Lacey's doorman let a delivery guy up to her apartment around 8:00 last night, but he doesn't remember what pizzeria he was from.
It's weird.
I didn't see pizza places on her phone records.
Yeah, someone's going to have fun canvassing pizzerias, and it's not - gonna be me.
- It's not me, either.
NYPD just picked up our suspect, Raoul Perez.
He was soliciting donations in The Village for a charity called Smiling Faces Around the Globe.
Hey, Raoul.
Where's Lacey Moran? I don't know who you're talking about.
I'm talking about the girl that you assaulted two days ago at Harriman State Park.
Does that ring a bell? - Wasn't me.
- No? Okay, so I guess the guy that scammed her for $3,000 wasn't you either? - I'm helping kids.
- You're lining your own pockets.
I spoke to people at Smiling Faces Around the Globe, they said you quit 4 months ago, because they caught you stealing donations.
That was never proven.
I just figured it out.
She realized you were scamming her and you did something to keep her quiet.
- What'd you do, Raoul? - Nothing.
- What happened at the campground? - I already told you: nothing.
Raoul, fraud's one thing.
Kidnapping's another, and murder? Do you want deal with that? - You want to deal with murder? - All right.
Okay.
After her first donation, I convinced her to pledge more.
When she didn't show up with the check, I thought she made my con.
I had to make sure I was okay.
Raoul? What are you doing here? You said you were going to drop off your check before you went out of town.
So you came all the way out here? You told me where you were going and I need the money now.
Some of the surgeries are already scheduled.
I'm sorry.
I can't give you the money.
What do you mean? - I thought You wanted help those kids? - Of course I do.
It's just my situation has changed.
Changed how? You wouldn't understand.
- Why not? - Because you're a good person.
So are you.
My God, the money you pledged that's going to let 40 kids smile for the first time in their lives.
I wish I could give you the money, but I can't.
I just want to know why.
I mean, what am I supposed to tell those kids? The money's not mine! And I have to give it back.
Is this a joke?! Cause if you're trying to blow me off, you can find excuse.
- I said I was sorry.
- I want a real explanation! Hey! You need to get out of here.
I figured it was time to cut bait.
Do you know what she meant by the money wasn't hers? No idea.
What do you think? Makes me think that the lottery ticket didn't belong to her in the first place.
According to the lottery commission the winning ticket was sold on March 18 at Reed's Marketplace right down from Chelsea Park.
I'll have it cued up here in a sec.
You know, the drawing was a couple days later, and Lacey didn't cash it in until the 27th.
Probably didn't wanna draw the attention whoever she stole it from.
We're up.
- That's our guy? - It's the right spot in the time code.
Unfortunately he paid cash, so there's no credit card to track.
What is it that he's carrying in his right hand? That looks like a prescription bag.
Yeah, let me call the store's pharmacy.
Desmond Carter? FBI! Desmond Carter Hi, excuse me.
I'm with the FBI.
I'm looking for Desmond Carter.
Could you help me out? You're a few weeks late.
Why? Did he move? Nope, died in his Laz-E-Boy right in there.
Cancer.
Have you seen this woman before? Lacey? She was one of his friends.
Actually his only friend.
Okay, do you know how they know each other? Guess he was a regular at the diner where works.
When he got sicker, she took to helping him out around here.
So he tells these passengers, "I've been turning left at this light for 14 years.
" "Today, I'm turning right and we're all going to the boardwalk.
" So what happened? When he got back, my boss fired him.
But at least he got a tan.
Desmond? We need to talk.
Hey, Maureen? What's going on? I loaned your buddy $95 so the power guy wouldn't leave him in the dark.
Haven't seen a dime back yet.
Why don't you go unpack these, and I'll be in in a minute.
- Thanks a million, Lacey.
- Okay.
Look, his disability check will be in in the next day or so, and once it's deposited, he'll get you your money.
I got bills of my own to pay.
I know how it is.
Just think about how hard it is for your or me to make ends meet, and then imagine being sick.
He needs all the help that we can give.
I'm not running a charity.
I know.
Just give him a couple more days.
If he doesn't have it, I expect the money from you.
Desmond was lucky to have her around.
When he died, she was the only one who bothered to come clean out all his crap.
Do you know if he has any family? His son stopped by about a week after, wanted to know where all his father's stuff went.
Got a name? I just remember it wasn't Carter.
Then how'd you know it was his son? Because he said so.
And what did you tell his son? I gave him Lacey's name and number.
Figured let them hash it out.
Thank you.
Hi.
Hey.
Something that I wanted to ask you, but I can't remember what it was.
Are you okay? I'm fine.
I'm just, you know, just getting back on my feet.
Well, then I'm sorry to spring this on you.
But it's already a week and a half late Maternity.
Here's what I'm thinking.
I'll take three days off before the baby's due, two weeks after, then I'll take half days and full days whenever I can make up my six weeks maternity leave.
I've already talked about with personnel, so it shouldn't be a problem.
I promise you won't even know I'm gone.
Very well.
I'm glad you thought it through.
So, what's going to happen to the kid when you're on call? Well, there's a woman who lives in my building.
And I'm thinking that Brian could take nights and weekends.
- And - Brian? The dad.
I don't think I ever met him, did I? What's his last name? Donovan.
Is he a good guy? Well, I hope so.
I mean I wasn't expecting to be connected to him for the rest of my life or anything.
So, you know it's a weird trying to trust someone you don't know that well.
But you know what I thought? I thought to myself, what would Jack do? Then I remembered what you said, I did the opposite.
So I've decided to give him a chance.
Smart girl.
All right.
Viv meet Desmond Carter's alleged son.
There's nothing in his records to indicate that he has one.
Maybe this guy's pulling a scam, too.
Hopefully someone from the neighborhood will recognize him.
All right.
Did you get your call yet? About an hour ago.
Look, I have no problem telling OPR how I feel.
That was your case.
- Jack was out of line and - Well, do what you got to do, Danny.
But thanks.
I'm going to run the sketch.
Excuse me, Gail? - It is Gail, right? - Yeah.
I'd like you to do a little black bag job for me.
Okay.
It's no big deal.
It's just a background check on a guy named Brian Donovan.
I'll see what I can do.
Thanks.
Curtis? Your manager said that you made a delivery last night to a woman on 91st and Central Park West.
Yeah.
That was me.
Is this about the money? Why don't you tell me what it's about.
Well, I was just making a delivery.
I don't carry that much change.
- That's okay.
Just keep it.
- Thanks.
- We should go to the cops.
- Quiet, Jeff.
Look, we cannot change what happened, okay? We just have to stick to the plan, get the money and go.
That's the best tip I ever got.
And are you sure she called this guy Jeff? That's what it sounded like.
Okay.
Thank you so much.
Agent Johnson.
Hey, so I found a hole in Jeff's alibi.
Yeah, he was with Lacey last night.
It sounds like they try to get the lotto winnings before they left town.
Okay, I'm going to head over to his apartment.
Okay.
Turner's not answering his door, his neighbors haven't seen him since this morning.
Well, he probably took off to meet Lacey after he spoke to us.
Agent Johnson, I think we've got him.
- Where? - Right over here.
- He's inside, but he's not responding.
- Okay.
Mr.
Turner, I need for you to step out of the vehicle.
Mr.
Turner? What's the word on Turner's GS with you? We're still waiting for the residue test.
If this wasn't a suicide, somebody sure as hell took their time making it look like one.
Maybe Lacey got rid of him because he wouldn't run with her.
Or the man claming to be Carter's son caught up with them, killed Turner, and took Lacey with him - in an attempt to get his money.
- No.
I double-checked.
No money was removed from Lacey's bank account last night.
So the owner of the coffee shop across from Lacey's apartment ID'd Carter's alleged son.
He was in for breakfast yesterday, paid with a credit card.
Alex Shaw.
He was waiting for Lacey.
According to the witness, he confronted Lacey when she left her apartment.
Let's pick him up.
I am so sorry for your loss.
I don't understand, how could this happen? Have either of you ever seen this guy? Do we have to do this now? I'm afraid we do.
- No.
- No.
No, me neither.
Do you think this guy killed Jeff? We don't know yet.
His name is Alex Shaw and he's Desmond Carter's son.
Lacey's friend.
Yeah, you know, we would have identified him sooner, but it appears that he and Mr.
Carter were estranged.
Why would he wanna hurt Jeff or Lacey? You know, I bet you already know that.
It doesn't make any sense to me that Lacey will tell a total stranger that the money wasn't hers, and then she's not gonna tell her best friends? About a month ago, Lacey called and told me she had to see me right away.
So what's so important you couldn't tell me over the phone? I found it while packing up Des's things.
So while he's depending on handouts from you, he's flushing what little he has left on a Pick 6? Paula He won.
What? The drawing last week.
The one that that no one claimed.
Those are the winning numbers, I just checked.
You're kidding? How much? $32 million.
- Bullcrap! - I swear.
I don't know, he must have bought the ticket right before he died.
I can't believe this! It's the greatest thing has ever happened! You're gonna be rich! Come on, I can't I can't keep it, it's not mine.
Of course you can, okay? Des said you could take the stuff of his you wanted.
It's one of his things.
No, Des mentioned having a son once, he should get that.
He doesn't deserve that money.
You're the one who took care of Des, got him to his appointments, filled out his insurance forms, like he needed.
That doesn't make taking that ticket right.
You're not taking anything from him.
He can't miss something he never had.
Come on Think about it.
Who would Des want to have the money? His one real friend or his son who abandoned him? Me I think Yeah.
Oh, my Oh, my God! What will you buy first? I don't know! If I had any idea it would end up this way You couldn't have known, baby.
Can I see my brother? Of course.
I'll have someone take you.
Come on.
My client would like to know what he's being charged with.
Nothing yet.
We'd just like to ask him some questions about the disappearance of Lacey Moran.
Well, Mr.
Shaw doesn't have anything to do with it.
No? Then what's he need you for? Oh, I'm not a criminal attorney.
Mr.
Shaw retained me to get the $32 million Ms.
Moran stole from him.
That girl tried to screw me over.
Yeah, what happened with that girl yesterday? Nothing.
Well, unfortunately for you, there's a witness that says different.
I'm telling you I talked to her face-to-face once.
After my dad's neighbor gave me her number, I read about her in the paper and knew something was up.
They told me at your old place where you moved.
Not bad.
Thanks.
I'm sorry about your father.
He was a good man.
Yeah? I really wouldn't know.
I had the Salvation Army pick up his furniture.
- I hope that's all right.
- Why don't we cut the crap, okay? Sorry, I don't know what you're talking about.
Your big lotto win I know you stole the ticket from my father.
That's ridiculous.
I was sure as I read those numbers that hit: three, eight, eleven, seventeen Those are me and my mom's birthdays.
My dad played those numbers since I was a kid.
I don't know what you talk about.
Gonna tell me you play the same numbers? You know what? You need to leave.
Not too proud stealing money from a dead man.
You're the one that should be ashamed.
You never even visited him when he was sick.
I made sure that he took his medication, I took care of him.
Not that it's any of your business, but my dad cut me out of his life, not the other way around.
Well, that's not my fault, none of it is.
This isn't over.
A couple days later, she called me.
Said she was on some trip in the woods, wanted to come back early to return the money, but she never showed.
Yeah, that's all well and good, but we still have a witness.
No, that wasn't her in front of her apartment.
- It wasn't? - No.
After she didn't show with the money, I figured she got cold feet, so I waited for her.
Lacey, we need to talk.
Lacey? You got me confused with somebody else.
I'm sorry.
What are the chances? Two women looking that much alike, living in the same building? And you're sure it wasn't Lacey? Once I got a good look at her up close.
Was this the woman you saw? With longer hair, yeah.
Who is she? Clearly somebody else that was after your money.
So records at one of the payphones at the campsite confirm that Lacey did call Alex Shaw.
You know, no one has seen Paula or Elliot Reiser since they left the morgue.
And look what ERT found at their apartment.
Lacey was wearing a hat like that when she came back from camping and that has blood on it.
Think they they killed her brother too? Well, the ME's officially classifying Turner's death as suicide.
Maybe he couldn't live with what he and his sister and the brother-in-law did.
So now, the three of them conspired to kill her? Well, $32 million It's a lot of motivation.
- I don't know.
- I'm not saying it was premeditated, but think about it.
They probably blackmailing this girl saying "You stole the ticket, we gonna expose you.
" And Lacey didn't want to go along with it, so things turned ugly.
You know, that helps explain Paula trying to disguise herself to look like Lacey.
Make it seem like Lacey's alive long enough so they can go after her money.
You know what? That pizza delivery Maybe that wasn't really Lacey either.
And around the same time was when her bank records were accessed.
They were trying to transfer her money.
You know, if Lacey was already dead here, when was she killed? It's possible she never made it out of those woods.
So, Paula, you sure were in a rush to get out of town Excuse me? The state trooper that pulled you over said that you were doing 86, where were you headed? Pennsylvania Back home.
I was pretty shook up after seeing Jeff.
Where's my husband? Your husband is being interrogated.
You know that we found Lacey's hat in your apartment and forensics confirmed that her blood is on it.
I wanna talk to my husband.
Why don't you worry about yourself, because I don't know exactly what he had to do with Lacey's death, but I'm pretty sure about you.
I don't know how it could have gotten there.
Really? Because you had it on when you pretended to be her friend, you wanna see? Look I wanna talk to a lawyer.
Here, use my phone.
Call one.
Because once I find Lacey's body, you're done.
Think about that baby, Paula.
You'll help Elliot? I I can't, if he's responsible.
But if he's not, do you promise? I'll do what I can.
I knew something was bothering Lacey.
Right before, she was going to leave the campsite, she admitted she was going back to return the money to Desmond's son.
Taking that ticket was wrong.
And I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since I met him.
You don't have to do this, he doesn't have any real proof.
It's not about proof, Paula.
Okay, those numbers that Desmond played, they were Alex's birthday.
His and his mom's.
So what? So we didn't think that Des cared about him, but he must have, why else would he have played those numbers every week? Lace, just let it go.
I can't I can't live with what I've done.
So what? We go back to the way things were? Us being dirt-poor? Maybe you care about the money, but I don't.
I just wanna stop feeling bad about myself.
Well, it's not just about you, Lace! It's about us! All of us! I'm sorry, Paula, but it's my decision, okay? And I've made it.
- I'm done talking about it.
- Stop Leave me alone! Paula, what did you do? Jeff wanted to go to the police.
I talked him out of it.
Then we buried the body and I went back to the city ahead of them.
She had no right to give it back.
We deserved that money.
Assuming your husband confirms your story, I'm gonna have a confession for you to sign shortly.
Delgado.
We found her.
Agent Malone? Gail.
Sit, please.
So what do you have? NCIC vital stats federal and state court docs all clean.
Then I dug a little deeper.
Lived in Delaware in 2006, so I called the local sheriff's department.
Sex with a minor No charges were brought.
Family didn't want their daughter's name dragged through the mud.
You mind if I ask who this guy is? Let me ask you something, Gail.
Where do you see yourself in a few years from now? Well legal counsel has its perks, but I am interested in making a move to violent crimes.
When that time comes, call me and I'll make the recommendation.
Thank you.